“When I started to pour paint, there was no return—you can’t un-pour it,” says American artist Pat Steir. “It’s there. So I could start a new one, but I couldn’t change what I had. Like life.” Steir began her career in the 1960s, working in illustration. Drawn to Minimalism, Conceptual art, and the emotional depth of Rothko’s color fields, she started pairing images with text as a way to question perception. “Painting is an object,” she once said, “but it’s also a voice. I don’t see them as objects; I see them as voices.” In Mirage—her first site-specific installation, created in 1975—she painted and drew directly on walls, defining space through color and line. That monumental work has been recreated for this exhibition. —Elena Clavarino